Goal E: Promote Awareness

To foster an engaged community and staff that appreciates and protects its local environment through active communication.

The 2005 City of Windsor's Environmental Attitudes Survey determined the need for the Environmental Master Plan (EMP) fifth goal, "Goal E: Promote Awareness." In order to enhance the quality of life for Windsorites, there needs to be an increase in understanding and awareness of environmental issues in a local context. To achieve these goals and a healthier Windsor, the community needs to understand how actions can impact the local environment and what can be done to have a lesser impact. The plan aims to engage residents, schools, staff, and visitors on environmental sustainability; promote environmental stewardship; and promote healthier and more environmentally-friendly behaviours.

The Environmental Master Plan outlines 9 objectives with accompanying indicators to promote awareness to keep track of the progress the City is making:

• Objective E1: Promote the link between environmental health and human health to Windsor residents
• Objective E2: Report on the progress of the implementation of the Environmental Master Plan
• Objective E3: Conduct a regular survey of environmental attitudes with residents and staff
• Objective E4: Develop a corporate environmental educations strategy
• Objective E5: Maintain a web-based environmental information site
• Objective E6: Increase awareness among residents and stakeholders of the City's environmental programs, policies and initiatives
• Objective E7: Continue to invest and develop partnerships
• Objective E8: Ensure involvement of residents and stakeholders in environmental decision-making
• Objective E9: Showcase Windsor's environmental commitment outside the region

Why is Public Awareness important to the Environment?

An increasing population and urbanization has generated pressure on the natural resources in our area, and without care and consideration, will lead to a continued degradation of the environment. Environmental issues cannot be fixed with policy alone. Public awareness and participation is equally important with regard to environmental protection.

To support these objectives the City of Windsor's Report On the State of our Environment (ROSE) and this website were developed to give the residents of the City of Windsor documentation to reference over time to better understand the changes occurring in our environment.

This website also includes information on how the individual citizen can help the City of Windsor achieve the goals developed in Environmental Master Plan. Though the City of Windsor will strive to fulfill all the objectives of the plan, the individual citizen should not minimize their importance to the plan's success or the benefits to our environment.

Please visit our Public Involvement page for information on upcoming events.

For more information on environmental initiatives: